Mazda CX-9

Editors' Rating

10Best

Editors' Choice

Price Starting at

$33,105

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Build and Price

Price Starting at

$33,105

Shop Local Cars

Build and Price

Overview

Putting zoom-zoom charisma into a three-row crossover is no easy feat, but Mazda does it with the CX-9—earning it a 2018 10Best award. A well-tuned suspension offers great handling; steering is light but precise. A 250-hp 2.5-liter turbo four mates with a six-speed automatic and either front- or all-wheel drive. The EPA estimates 22 mpg city and 28 mpg highway for front-drive models; adaptive cruise control and automated emergency braking are standard on all but the base Sport trim.

Three-row crossovers are the new minivans. They haul families and stuff with increasingly bland sameness. But what if there existed an affordable option that's attractive and fun to drive?

We talk a big game. After endlessly professing our love for Chevy Corvettes, Porsche Caymans, and Mazda MX-5 Miatas, more often than not, when the time comes to pick a vehicle for a weekend road trip, we choose something practical. Practical is three rows. Practical is all-wheel drive. Practical is quiet. Practical rides well. Practical doesn’t make us look as if we’re suffering a mid-life crisis. And practical gets driven. In our long-term fleet, the vehicles that rack up 40,000 miles the quickest are always minivans and three-row SUVs. As much as we love driving them, sports cars can’t accommodate the family or carry much stuff.

So the Mazda CX-9 is practical, but it’s not all Costco and Home Depot and road trips to Disney. The CX-9 looks like something Karl Lagerfeld would use to run errands on whatever his version of a nice little Saturday might be.

A wholesale redo, the new CX-9 lifts the design idioms of Mazda’s own CX-5 but also borrows some styling cues from the Infiniti QX70 (the SUV formerly known as the FX). The big Mazda, especially on its optional 20-inch wheels, looks elegant enough to wear a designer badge. Some of what makes the Mazda appear expensive is actually its restraint. Yes, the large chrome grille juts menacingly forward and has LED lighting inside it, but Mazda’s designers appear to have sculpted the clay with hands when forming the CX-9, rather than hacking at it with swords. Even the Mazda’s paint looks like a budget breaker. Covered in a finely flaked hue called Machine Gray, the CX-9 glows. This SUV has the presence and style to rival Acura’s MDX and Infiniti’s QX60.

It’s the same story inside. Mazda’s material choices look and feel rich. Many of the plastics are so finely grained and soft to the touch that they appear to be bovine based. On our top-spec Signature tester, sticker price $45,215, there are open-pore rosewood trim pieces, aluminum accents, and soft brick-colored Nappa leather seats. The gaps are consistently tight, and the trim all lines up with an obsessive attention to detail.

In an effort to bring the CX-9’s noise levels upmarket, Mazda tells us it worked on suppressing the tire roar that plagued the previous CX-9. The replacement has a thicker floorpan, 53 pounds of sound deadening under the carpet, and an acoustically laminated windshield and front windows. The work pays off with a low 65 decibels of noise at 70 mph, four less than the last CX-9 we tested and the same as the Tesla Model X. Our only gripes up front are related to the seats. The driver’s chair doesn’t go low enough and needs more thigh support, and the passenger’s seat produces the same complaints while lacking any height adjustment.

As in the CX-9’s brethren, the instrument panel is dominated by round analog dials. But unlike in almost every other Mazda, one of the round gauges is actually a color LCD screen that can display trip-computer information and a compass. On all but the lowest Sport trim level, which gets a seven-inch screen, there’s an eight-inch touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard. It’s a bit too far to touch while driving, so the screen can also be controlled by the BMW iDrive–like knob behind the shifter. Navigation and audio controls are logical and easy to use with either the knob or the touchscreen.

In the second row, there’s ample space for adults, provided they slide the split bench all the way back. However, second-row legroom comes at the expense of third-row space. Unlike some competitors, Mazda doesn’t offer captain’s chairs in the second row. The split-bench second row folds forward to ease entry into the way back, but the Ford Explorer, Honda Pilot, and Toyota Highlander, with their second-row walk-throughs, make it easier. The competition also beats the CX-9’s two-person third row. The Mazda’s rearmost row is kid-friendly, but the Highlander’s and the Pilot’s work better for adults, and each can theoretically hold three. There is a 14-cubic-foot cargo hold in the Mazda, and folding its third row increases that to 38 cubic feet. With both rows folded flat, there’s 71 cubic feet of space, but the Mazda is on the smaller end of the three-row spectrum. Also, you’ll be doing the folding yourself as power-folding seats aren’t available.

And while the rest of the class offers V-6 power, the CX-9 comes with only a four-cylinder turbo. The engine displaces 2.5 liters and makes 250 horsepower on 93 octane and 227 horses on 87, says Mazda. On California’s 91-octane fuel, it makes something in between and can run zero to 60 mph in 7.2 seconds. It passes through the quarter-mile in 15.7 seconds at 88 mph. The Pilot and Explorer Sport are both quicker to 60 by about a second; the V-6–powered Highlander is about a tenth slower than the CX-9.

Mazda tells us that it studied how buyers use their three-row-mobiles and found that they almost never rev the engine past 4500 rpm. The power just above idle is more impor­tant. To provide punch where owners want it, the CX-9’s engine makes 310 pound-feet of torque at 2000 rpm, regardless of octane. That torque translates into a nice firm shove from low revs, and it gives the big CX-9 the ability to squirt into holes in traffic. The throttle response is excellent, even from idle, with boost that builds instantly, likely due to the clever Dynamic Pressure Turbo system. But if you drive the CX-9 as we do—part throttle and no redlining makes Jack a dull boy—the power tapers off noticeably. It doesn’t fall away with the abruptness of a turbo-diesel, but there’s a big drop in enthusiasm beyond 4500 rpm.

According to Mazda, using a four instead of the old 3.7-liter V-6 saves 132 pounds. Front-drive models weigh 4054, a loss of 269 pounds. We measured 4336 for our all-wheel-drive CX-9 Signature, 223 pounds less than the old CX-9. It’s between 200 and 700 pounds lighter than most of the three-row class, but the Pilot, Hyundai Santa Fe, and Kia Sorento are a few pounds lighter still.

The downsized engine and reduced mass help boost EPA fuel economy from last year’s 16 city/22 highway mpg (AWD) and 17/24 (front drive) to 21/27 and 22/28, respectively. Those numbers are good enough to take the CX-9 to the head of the class; the GMC Acadia, with the newly available naturally aspirated 194-hp 2.5-liter four and all-wheel drive, comes close at 21/25 mpg.

To boost real-world fuel economy, Mazda fits a cooling system to the exhaust-gas-recirculation system that helps reduce combustion temperatures. When on boost, a turbo causes the engine to consume more fuel, not only to match the extra air entering the engine but also as a little extra to help keep the combustion chamber cool. By cooling the exhaust that recirculates back to the engine, combustion temperatures are thus reduced without having to rely on a rich mixture.

Mazda tells us that while the system’s benefits don’t show up on the light-throttle, almost-no-boost EPA test, there will be a benefit for real drivers. We rarely drive like real people, though, so we managed only 19 mpg over nearly 500 miles.

All drivers will find the CX-9 is as smooth and charismatic as it appears. The electrically assisted power steering is light and accurate. Like all Mazdas, the CX-9 is easy to place on the road. With 20-inch wheels, the suspension tuning is on the firm side of supple. Push the CX-9 hard, and it never feels as ponderous as the minivan-like Highlander and Pilot. Switch the six-speed automatic into sport mode, and the CX-9 almost starts to think it’s an MX-5 Cup car. The gearbox snaps through downshifts under braking and gears are held longer.

We measured 0.80 g of grip in skidpad testing despite an overactive stability-control system. Even on public roads, we found the stability control a bit too intrusive. It can’t be shut off, and if you press hard into a corner, it’ll clamp down on the brakes. Should you need to slam on the brakes, stopping from 70 mph takes 179 feet, a typical distance for the class.

For the safety conscious, Mazda offers a full cache of driver-­assistance systems, including blind-spot monitoring, radar-based cruise control, and lane-departure warning and correction. Only Grand Touring and Signature models get the radar-based active cruise control that makes the collision-warning system possible. If the vehicle senses an imminent collision, it will slam on the brakes. It’s too sensitive. Three times in as many days, the system thought an accident was developing when there was no danger. It surprised us by slamming on the brakes twice while gradually slowing behind a row of cars at a red light, and once again when changing lanes to dart around a slower car. The system can be shut off and its sensitivity can be adjusted (both times when the system intervened, it was set to its least sensitive setting), but it automatically reactivates every time the engine starts. The overactive system is completely inconsistent with Mazda’s driver-centric gospel.

Annoying collision-warning system aside, the new CX-9 is the most engaging vehicle in its class, proving that practicality doesn’t always mean giving up handling and style. What it lacks in third-row space, it makes up for in refinement and dynamics. A base CX-9 starts at $32,420; add all-wheel drive for $1800. Even fully loaded to $45,215 as our test car was, the CX-9 remains a strong value in a world where a Pilot Elite costs $47,470 and an Explorer Platinum costs $53,915. It might not have the acceleration or third-row space of those two, but what’s more practical than saving money?